Ryan Dempster Rumors: Friday

The Cubs and Dodgers have four days to complete a possible trade involving Ryan Dempster. The Dodgers turned down a proposal of Allen Webster for Dempster, but seem optimistic that a deal can be completed. The Cubs, on the other hand, have limited options, since Dempster wants to go to Los Angeles and must approve any trade. Here are today's rumors, with the most recent updates up top…

The Cubs and Dodgers are discussing a deal of Dempster for Josh Lindblom, reports ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, who isn't sure what other players could be involved in the swap (Twitterlinks). Another source tells Crasnick that the Lindblom rumor is "completely unfounded."

Dempster will consider trades to a number of teams, including the Braves and Dodgers, if the Cubs approach him with a deal in place, Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com reports. "He has not said that he wouldn't go to Atlanta or anywhere else for that matter," a person familiar with the situation told Levine.

There's no current dialogue between the Cubs and Dodgers about Dempster, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (Twitterlinks). Each club know what the other is looking for at this point.

I can’t believe you cubs fans are turning on Dempster who has treated the organization and community with a lot of respect and given the cubs everything he has. Dempster has earned the right to say where he goes. He has a family that he has to consider as well. There is no guarantee Webster, Gould, or Reed will develop into strong SP so why hate on someone who has helped your organization more than any other player in recent years.

How is he sticking you? Delgado is no sure thing. He has awful issues with control.Why not be happy a solid member of your organization is going to stay around longer? Why not believe he has earned the right to stay in chicago. MLB says he’s earned the right- it’s ashame the people that know him best disagree.

Yes, he has the right. But he also had the right not to say in advance that he’d accept a trade to help the team. He also had the right not to name Atlanta as a place he’d be willing to go.

And you’ve got to be kidding on the solid guy who wants to stay in Chicago thing. That’s not what he is saying at all. He’s saying he’s ready to go but it’s LA or nothing, and whether that makes a trade that helps the team impossible is incidental.

Theo: You’ve had a great year and Chicago loves you. You are the catalyst to our firesale and we need prospects badly.
Demp: I love it here too and it really sounds like you got a plan, Theo. This city deserves a good club and I will even consider the Cubs as a favorite destination come Free Agency.
Theo: That is fantastic! We are more than open to bringing you back home. Make a list of teams you’ll waive 10/5 for.
Demp: LA and Atlanta.
Trade is agreed to.
Demp: Nah, you guys screwed me by doing something we have agreed upon. So now screw you guys.
Theo backed by the entire City of Chicago: Well, screw you then.
Pretty simple.

Writing what deal? Dempster has 10-and-5 rights, not a specific no-trade clause. He surrendered a list of teams that he would _consider_ accepting a deal to just this season, but that is not a waiver of his 10/5 rights. Not Hendry’s fault, not the Cubs’ fault. The only issue here is that Dempster got bent out of shape when he was told by the media that he was dealt to ATL before being informed by mgmt, who still have to get his OK on any deal shipping him out, preferred trade list or not. In his reaction, he said ‘LA or bust’ – again, that is his right, he never guaranteed that he would accept a deal to send him packing, only that he would consider it.

That’s the risk, exactly. Clearly Dempster isn’t in their plans for the future and it seems the new CBA is all about the teams not being incentivized to hang onto pending free agents who they really don’t want on the team just so they can get the draft pick.

I’m fascinated that everyone assumes it’s a given that Dempster would agree to a qualifying one year offer of $12.5MM–a 10% pay cut–coming off his best season as a starter. Someone is going to offer him a multi-year deal that may not approach that in AAV, but far exceeds it in total dollars.

It stinks for the Cubs but Dempster is only excersing his right so he should be able to do what he thinks is best for him and his family. I was angry at first but you gotta look at it in his prospective.

That’s not how ntcs work. It’s not a vocal waive. Ryan would have to sing a waiver allowing him to be traded. Hypothetically he already
Signed it and have the cubs permission to trade him he can’t take it back, it’s a contract

but it’s a pretty safe assumption from how far it got with Atlanta, the fact that he came out and said he would prefer being traded to LA or Atlanta a week before, and the surprise that ensued when he all of a sudden decided that he didn’t want to accept the trade, that he had told the Cubs management that he would accept a trade to Atlanta.

Of course without anything being signed (because you can’t sign a waiver before the trade officially happens), he has the right to go back on it… but he really screwed the organization over and wasted a lot of people’s time in doing so.

Theo should give Dodgers one final call. Yes or no to offer. If they do not agree, tell Dempster talks with Dodgers are done. Period. Tell Dempster: Go to Atlanta, give us other teams that you will approve NOW or stay in the pen the rest of the year in Chicago. Theo need to show Dempster who is the hammer and who is the nail. And let him know Theo will be brutally honest with the Chicago media on the events that led Dempster to the pen. We need to look at young players for 2013.

I disagree. Even the Atlanta GM and players know Dempster went back on his word and Theo is STILL trying to accomodate him. I think players see and repect Theo thru this and realize dempster is a fake and a fraud with no honor.

I have no arguement against Dempster’s right to it; he earned it. But a professional should never go back on his word. I think it comes down to character and maybe that is why Demster never wins the big games?

There was a discussion on Baseball Today (the ESPN podcast) today that suggested the Cubs might offer Dempster a qualifying one year-deal, but would inform him that upon returning, he’d be used as a closer again. That would be within their rights, wouldn’t piss off the union, and would likely send him packing, a draft pick coming back in his place.

Excellent strategy but I would tell Dempster he is going to the pen this year; we have to see what the kids can do and if he remains on the team he provides no value for 2013. If the union is unhappy we let them know our interests are for the future of the team, not for individual Dempster.

hahaha, just take a look at all the headlines here, JJ will be traded to some team, greinke going to the rangers, dempster to the dodgers, hanley and choate to the dodgers, wandy to the pirates, infante and sanchez to the tigers, shields going to the angels, liriano to some team. And the big headline of them all is the braves to sign batista! WOW! Wren makes major impact near deadline! hahahaha, were pathetic.

not sure if this can work out, but can the Dodgers get Dempster and Soriano (and 100% of this contract) for 2-3 prospects (not including any of the young arms we’re high on)? Maybe taking on soriano’s entire contract would bring down the return asking price on dempster.

If we’re going to pay 100% of Soriano’s contract, you’re better off just releasing him – rather than trying to devalue the package of prospects in return. They’re offering to pay almost all of his contract with the hope that it will INCREASE the value of their return.

lmao, the dodgers in no way will swallow that horrible contract, even if they eat half,(more will have to be eaten) the cubs will still get a low level prospect. C at best. or high risk, high reward one.

Where would the Dodgers play Soriano? Second? Sorry, that’s taken….so is third, short and first. Right? Nope–Ethier resides there. Center? Matt Kemp
s territory. So unless they are moving a leftfielder, the answer would be designated bench ornament. .

Best move for the Cubs is to not trade Dempster. He defiantly has earned the right to say where he wants to go. His family is very important to him and wants to do what’s best for him and his family. He is a club house leader, he plays the game the right way and is a model player. If I was running the Cubs, I’d be looking to deal Soriano and maybe LaHair. The future if the pitching staff is not as bright compared to the position players. instead of trading a proven starter for prospect that have no guarantee of being future starters. They do need pitching, but trade veterans hitters like Soriano for pitching. They should explore trading for Felix Hernandez. There were trade rumors earlier and he would be worth trading for. You’d be getting a great pitcher for basically offensive players like Geo Soto and a fer average minor league players that the Cubs won’t miss.

On the one hand, I do not see Dempster as a rental. To me its clear that Dempster either: wants to go to LA because he really wants to play in LA or wants to go to LA because he knows new ownership is going to dish out some big contracts this offseason and he wants to lock in a big deal. Either way, if he’s trade to LA, I see Dempster playing for LA for more than just this season, guaranteed. In this sense, we get a solid vet for a prospect that may or may not develop into a solid pitcher in a few years.

On the other hand, he is 35 years old. How many more seasons does that arm have? I fine with giving Dempster a 1-2 year contract, with very good pay. But Webster MAY develop into a solid pitcher who could give us many more years of work. We have already seen this season what a gutted farm system can do to our club when injuries (inevitably) happen. No disrespect to Herrera, Cruz or Tollison (I absolutely love Herrera and Cruz, and I would love to see them back on the 25-man roster next year), but if there has been one glaring problem with Ned is that he’s traded away our prime prospects for rentals/old players with no more than a couple of good years left, and its biting us in the ass right now.

I’m on the fence with this trade. With Bills on the DL and Eovaldi gone for Ramirez, we NEED at least one REAL starter, period (we can get by with a minor leaguer in the 5 slot until Lilly returns) . Dempster not only fills that role, but along with Hanley, it would make us a very very dangerous team, and would almost certainly guarantee a post season slot. However, giving up another top prospect for a 35 y/o pitcher will probably hurt us in a couple of years.

I’m a Cubs fan. I think Dempster should be given a spot relief role with
the Cubs for the rest of the season, regardless of what Dempster wants
or what the players union wants. You can’t tell me Theo and Company
didn’t talk with Dempster about teams he would be willing to go to
before this mess came about. Dempster is a million-dollar baby, whining
about what team he wants to go to. Yes, he has 10-and-5 rights. Ok, then
throw it back at him……make him a spot reliever. He wasn’t going to
go the playoffs with the Cubs this year anyway…..why give him the
exact team of his choice to be traded to? To heck with trying to get
little or nothing for him (Qualifying offer after season/comp draft
pick)….we won’t get much now, unless we are lucky. Leverage is
gone…he’s not a star, happens to be having a good year. Dempster blew
any chance of getting the pitcher we wanted by vetoing the deal….all
because of a media leak. I mean, really? Over a media leak? Poor
friggin’ baby. Dempster should throw a water cooler at his own head,
maybe he could knock some sense into himself.

HOLY COW….I am so over Dempster, Greinke and everything going on with this deadline. All these writers wanting to be the first to report something so every little thing gets written and blown way out of proportion. Twitter and social media in general has ruined the entire thing. Just think about what it was like back before all this crap, back when people actually had to wait to hear about it on the news or read it in a paper.

At this point I don’t really give a darn where any of them end up, I will just be glad when it is all done and we can get back to baseball.

I swear, if 25-year-old reliever Josh Lindbloom and his 5.12 FIP headline a trade for Dempster, then I will honestly say that I want whomever was in charge of that trade fired. If it’s Epstein, kick him out. If it’s Hoyer, kick him out, then kick Epstein out for not stopping it. A sandwich pick is better than a -0.7-WAR reliever with a 6.54 ERA nad 4.31 FIP at AAA in 2010.
Oh, and did I mention that Lindbloom is pulling off that SPARKLING 5.12 FIP with a .256 BABIP and 93% LOB%? Honestly, a trade headlined by Josh Lindbloom is perhaps the worst trade that the Cubs could possibly make. Not only should the Dodgers eat Dempster’s contract, they should have to eat Alfonso Soriano’s, Carl Crawford’s, and Barry Zito’s.

The Dodgers could acquire any of them if they were willing to give up their top prospects and a younger player or two. I doubt any of those teams would turn down a package of Lee, Webster, Gordon and Lindblom. But I’d be pissed if the Dodgers offered that much.

Reed, Gould, Withrow, Martin, Tolleson, Pederson, Castellanos and Van Slyke are all appealing prospects as well, just not top 50.

Lindblom was a 2nd round pick and has a 8.3 SO/9 and 7.2 H/9 in 76.1 IP in relief. He has great stuff, and was viewed as the Dodgers future closer until the emergence of Jansen. He’ll come with 5 years of team control.

I’m not saying Cub fans should be happy with that return, but Lindblom is a better bet than what you’re likely to get with a supplemental round pick.

I agree with Jordan on that point. I think the Cubs will eventually give in too a lower deal, because if you think about it, Dempster is close to 40 and is a rental, that shouldn’t really cost anything. Plus, I think Jordan made a great point about holding off the prospects for bat, then the Dodgers are legit.

I think what most people are angry about is that he gave indications that he would approve a trade to both LA and Atlanta, but then decided not to approve it after it was agreed upon. As a Braves fan, I am totally fine with that. I was mad when I heard we traded Delgado for him.

The cubs did not “give him a no trade clause in his contract”…he is merely using his 10/5 rights…ten years MLB service time and at least 5 years with the same club. As soon as he is dealt he will no longer have full no trade protection.

Not necessarily. He might have just said “I’ll think about it.” “I’m thinking about it!” “Still thinking about it!” until the Braves threw their hands up and said nevermind.

Same effect, but it allows both things to be true. In fact I doubt Dempster actually declined because we saw too many times before that that the Braves were one of his top choices. I think it’s more likely he was just trying to hold out and get the Cubs to dish him to the Dodgers and waited too long.